They make their money on service plans, not phones. Why not make the Iphone $250 and get a ton of new people sign up? Of course they would pay apple the cost of the phone, but they'd make it up in the long run. Right now they are "exclusive", but they don't seem to be taking advantage of it. I work with 100's of teachers, only 1 person has an iphone.
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Why doesn't ATT lower the cost of IPHONES?
- Thread starter rxl125
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Because Apple sets the pricing on the phone, that was part of their exclusive agreement. Apple has all the power over the price, software, marketing. Where AT&T sells the plans.
True dat. AT&T gave up a lot of control to Apple vs. a traditional phone manufacture (Moto, Nokia, etc). Judging by their latest quarterly results it's paying off too. They have taken in a larger number of new customers where the other carriers are stagnant or loosing subscribers.
Agreed with everyone here. Apple is firmly against the carriers subsidizing the cost of the phone because that effectively devalues the hardware (which is, in fact, valuable) and overvalues the service (which is NOT particularly expensive).
No, it turns out to be bad for AT&T. Over half their new subscribers are GoPhone users, who don't spend squat.
Verizon, on the other hand, gained many more contract subscribers, and thus Verizon made more income than AT&T.
GoPhone users don't have anything to do with iPhone users though. Just because they are attracting a lot of GoPhone users doesn't take away the fact that the iPhone is bringing them customers (where data cost is increasing the average iPhone bill above their other users). You are correct though about the GoPhone users being over 50% of the new customers in the quarter.
I agree...
Verizon is competing with Sprint and not AT&T & the Apple iPhone. Their touchscreen phones are cheap and cheezy in comparison with the iPhone. Try holding one of "their" phones, after owning an iPhone; you'll also find the navigation on their phones is confusing, after the iPhone experience. Both of their touchscreen phones seem like they were put together to compete with the iPhone, and for some reason they forgot about "good craftsmanship" just to get something on the market. IMHO...
Verizon is competing with Sprint and not AT&T & the Apple iPhone. Their touchscreen phones are cheap and cheezy in comparison with the iPhone. Try holding one of "their" phones, after owning an iPhone; you'll also find the navigation on their phones is confusing, after the iPhone experience. Both of their touchscreen phones seem like they were put together to compete with the iPhone, and for some reason they forgot about "good craftsmanship" just to get something on the market. IMHO...
You do know it cost $320 dollars to make the iPhone around the day of release and around $230 now (this includes not only parts but also the labor involved and shipping).
Its apple's call to lower the price and they won't until it is significantly cheaper to produce the iPhone
Its apple's call to lower the price and they won't until it is significantly cheaper to produce the iPhone
I assume gophone is a payasyou go style phone. If thats the case then gophone users are still valuable because the users who will eventually mature to getting a contract phone will more than likely move to a network they are familiar with. Its a long term strategy but it does work. Look at t-mobile in the uk for an example.
As long as iPhone sales are solid, why should they? They want to make as much money as possible
When iPhone sales start to slip, expect a drop to occur as already have been rumored
When iPhone sales start to slip, expect a drop to occur as already have been rumored
I did. I was with Verizon for 9+ years, and wanted to try the iPhone. I love it btw. Verizon and AT&T both have comparible service where I live/travel, otherwise I would've suffered with my WinMo handset and stayed with them.
Yep. A lot do switch. I switched from T-Mobile. Plus I gave away a phone, and she switched because of that from Verizon.
Perhaps, perhaps not. Verizon still has less customer churn than AT&T:
Verizon and ATT neck and neck
Cheers!
That being said the pay as you go market is more mature in the UK. How easy it number porting in the us?
Because the iPhone's cost to make isn't that low.
And I am pretty sure that Apple has figured out the best selling price.
Lowering the price will not necessarily pay off the phone. You'll still get people waiting for 3G, or people who want MMS, etc.
Lowering it that much won't turn enough people to cover the cost and to make as much of a profit as the price is now.
And I am pretty sure that Apple has figured out the best selling price.
Lowering the price will not necessarily pay off the phone. You'll still get people waiting for 3G, or people who want MMS, etc.
Lowering it that much won't turn enough people to cover the cost and to make as much of a profit as the price is now.
Dropped Verizon after 6 years to ATT just for iPhone
I dropped verizon to go with ATT just for the iPhone. Love it so much that my new home computer purchased this month was an iMac. Look forward to the new 3G iPhone this summer, my wife will inherit my current one.
I dropped verizon to go with ATT just for the iPhone. Love it so much that my new home computer purchased this month was an iMac. Look forward to the new 3G iPhone this summer, my wife will inherit my current one.
The one thing I hate about Verizon (besides the annoying commercials) is the fact that all of their phones have the same craptacular interface, I want the real phone menus not some dumbed down Verizon menu system.
As far as why Apple isn't lowering the price... why would they, the demand is higher than ever. There is really no need to lower the price, they sell just fine at the price they are at now.
As far as why Apple isn't lowering the price... why would they, the demand is higher than ever. There is really no need to lower the price, they sell just fine at the price they are at now.